Rory Collins

Last updated

Sir Rory Collins
Born
Rory Edwards Collins

(1955-01-03) 3 January 1955 (age 68) [1]
Alma mater
Known for UK Biobank [2] [3] [4]
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions University of Oxford
Website www.ndph.ox.ac.uk/team/rory-collins

Sir Rory Edwards Collins FMedSci FRS [5] (born 3 January 1955) is a British physician who is Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the Clinical Trial Service Unit within the University of Oxford, the head of the Nuffield Department of Population Health and a Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford. His work has been in the establishment of large-scale epidemiological studies of the causes, prevention and treatment of heart attacks, other vascular disease, and cancer, while also being closely involved in developing approaches to the combination of results from related studies ("meta-analyses"). [6] [7] [8] Since September 2005, he has been the Principal Investigator and Chief Executive of the UK Biobank, [2] [3] [4] a prospective study of 500,000 British people aged 40–69 at recruitment.

Contents

Education

Collins was educated at Dulwich College [1] and studied Medicine at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, part of the University of London (1974-1980), and Statistics at George Washington University from 1976 to 1977 and the University of Oxford from 1982 to 1983.[ citation needed ]

Career and research

Since 1985, Collins has been co-director with Sir Richard Peto of the University of Oxford's Clinical Trial Services and Epidemiological Studies units. In 1996, he was appointed Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Oxford, supported by the British Heart Foundation. Since September 2005, he has also been acting as the Principal Investigator and Chief Executive of the UK Biobank, [2] [3] [4] a prospective study of 500,000 British people, aged 40–69 at recruitment.

Collins' work has been in the establishment of large-scale epidemiological studies of the causes, prevention and treatment of heart attacks, other vascular disease, and cancer. [9]

He has created and led large studies that transformed statins from esoteric drugs for familial hypercholesterolaemia into widely-used generics that prevent millions of heart attacks and ischaemic strokes annually. His large placebo-controlled trials and worldwide Cholesterol Treatment Trialists' meta-analyses confirmed that statins reduce the risk of heart attack, discovered that they reduce the risk of stroke, and demonstrated their safety and efficacy in many different types of patient. [5] His research has been funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC). [10]

Awards and honours

Collins was knighted in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to science. [11] He was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2004 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2015. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statin</span> Class of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels

Statins are the most common cholesterol-lowering drugs. Also known as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, they are a class of lipid-lowering medications that reduce illness and mortality in those who are at high risk of cardiovascular disease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study</span>

The Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study, was a multicentre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, which provided the initial data that supported the use of the cholesterol-lowering drug, simvastatin, in people with a moderately raised cholesterol and coronary heart disease (CHD); that is people who had previously had a heart attack or angina. The study was sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Merck and enrolled 4,444 people from 94 centres in Scandinavia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardiovascular disease</span> Class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases, stroke, heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, cardiomyopathy, abnormal heart rhythms, congenital heart disease, valvular heart disease, carditis, aortic aneurysms, peripheral artery disease, thromboembolic disease, and venous thrombosis.

Dyslipidemia is an abnormal amount of lipids in the blood. Dyslipidemia is a risk factor for the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). ASCVD includes coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, and peripheral artery disease. Although dyslipidemia is a risk factor for ASCVD, abnormal levels don't mean that lipid lowering agents need to be started. Other factors, such as comorbid conditions and lifestyle in addition to dyslipidemia, is considered in a cardiovascular risk assessment. In developed countries, most dyslipidemias are hyperlipidemias; that is, an elevation of lipids in the blood. This is often due to diet and lifestyle. Prolonged elevation of insulin resistance can also lead to dyslipidemia. Likewise, increased levels of O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) may cause dyslipidemia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Protection Study</span>

The Heart Protection Study was a randomized controlled trial run by the Clinical Trial Service Unit, and funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) in the United Kingdom. It studied the use of the cholesterol lowering drug, simvastatin 40 mg and vitamin supplementation in people who were at risk of cardiovascular disease. It was led by Jane Armitage, an epidemiologist at the Clinical Trial Service Unit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atorvastatin</span> Cholesterol-lowering medication

Atorvastatin, sold under the brand name Lipitor among others, is a statin medication used to prevent cardiovascular disease in those at high risk and to treat abnormal lipid levels. For the prevention of cardiovascular disease, statins are a first-line treatment. It is taken by mouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simvastatin</span> Lipid-lowering medication

Simvastatin, sold under the brand name Zocor among others, is a statin, a type of lipid-lowering medication. It is used along with exercise, diet, and weight loss to decrease elevated lipid levels. It is also used to decrease the risk of heart problems in those at high risk. It is taken by mouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UK Biobank</span> Long-term biobank study of 500,000 people

UK Biobank is a large long-term biobank study in the United Kingdom (UK) which is investigating the respective contributions of genetic predisposition and environmental exposure to the development of disease. It began in 2006.

Sir Richard Peto is an English statistician and epidemiologist who is Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Ridker</span> Cardiovascular epidemiologist and biomedical researcher

Paul M. Ridker is a cardiovascular epidemiologist and biomedical researcher. He is currently the Eugene Braunwald Professor of Medicine at Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he directs the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention. Ridker also holds an appointment as Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clinical Trial Service Unit</span>

The Clinical Trial Service Unit (CTSU) is a medical research institute within the Nuffield Department of Population Health at Oxford University. It primarily conducts large scale clinical trials and epidemiological studies of chronic diseases, especially cancer and vascular conditions. It is located in the Richard Doll Building (RDB) on the Old Road Campus, in Headington, Oxford, England.

Dame Valerie Beral AC DBE FRS FRCOG FMedSci was an Australian-born British epidemiologist, academic and a preeminent specialist in breast cancer epidemiology. She was Professor of Epidemiology, a Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford and was the Head of the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford and Cancer Research UK from 1989.

Professor Peter Sleight M.D.(Cantab.), D.M. (Oxon.) FRCP FACC was a distinguished and internationally renowned research cardiologist and an Honorary Consultant Physician at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Sleight was Emeritus Field Marshal Alexander Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Oxford and an Emeritus Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.

Joanna Marguerite Wardlaw is a Scottish physician, radiologist, and academic specialising in neuroradiology and pathophysiology. Wardlaw worked as a junior doctor before specialising as a radiologist. She continues to practice medicine as an Honorary Consultant Neuroradiologist with NHS Lothian. She has spent her entire academic career at the University of Edinburgh.

Virginia M. Barbour is a professor at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia, and serves as the Director of the Australasian Open Access Strategy Group. She is best known for being one of the three founding editors of PLOS Medicine, and her various roles in championing the open access movement.

Jane Margaret Armitage is a professor of clinical trials and epidemiology in the Clinical Trial Service Unit at the University of Oxford. She works on the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease and has led large-scale randomized controlled trials.

Colin Baigent is a British academic physician and cardiovascular epidemiologist. He is a professor of epidemiology, Director of the Medical Research Council Population Health Research Unit at the University of Oxford, and deputy director of the Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit (CTSU), part of Oxford Population Health. His work is focused in the design and coordination of large-scale randomised trials and the use of meta-analysis to assess the efficacy and safety of drugs for the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) or premature death.

Sir Martin Jonathan Landray is a British physician, epidemiologist and data scientist who serves as a Professor of Medicine & Epidemiology at the University of Oxford. Landray designs, conducts and analyses large-scale randomised control trials; including practice-changing international trials that have recruited over 100,000 individuals. Landray previously led the health informatics team that enabled the collection and management of data for the UK Biobank on over half a million people.

Philip Michael Bath is a British clinician scientist. He is Stroke Association Professor of Stroke Medicine at the Stroke Trials Unit within the University of Nottingham. He specialises clinically in stroke and academically has established large-scale trials in treating and preventing stroke. Bath worked as a junior doctor before specialising in general medicine, stroke and hypertension. He is an Honorary Consultant Physician at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. He has spent his academic career at St George's, University of London, King's College London and University of Nottingham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucy Chappell</span> British obstetrician and gynaecologist, researcher and chief executive officer

Lucy Chappell is a British professor of obstetrics at King’s College London and the Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) for the UK Department of Health and Social Care. As part of her CSA role, she oversees the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) as Chief Executive Officer. Her research areas include medical problems during pregnancy such as pre-eclampsia, and the safety of medicines in pregnancy.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "COLLINS, Sir Rory (Edwards)" . Who's Who . Vol. 2016 (online Oxford University Press  ed.). Oxford: A & C Black.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. 1 2 3 Sudlow, Cathie; Gallacher, John; Allen, Naomi; Beral, Valerie; Burton, Paul; Danesh, John; Downey, Paul; Elliott, Paul; Green, Jane; Landray, Martin; Liu, Bette; Matthews, Paul; Ong, Giok; Pell, Jill; Silman, Alan; Young, Alan; Sprosen, Tim; Peakman, Tim; Collins, Rory (2015). "UK Biobank: An Open Access Resource for Identifying the Causes of a Wide Range of Complex Diseases of Middle and Old Age". PLOS Medicine. 12 (3): e1001779. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001779. ISSN   1549-1676. PMC   4380465 . PMID   25826379.
  3. 1 2 3 Allen, N. E.; Sudlow, C.; Peakman, T.; Collins, R. (2014). "UK Biobank Data: Come and Get It". Science Translational Medicine. 6 (224): 224ed4. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3008601 . ISSN   1946-6234. PMID   24553384. S2CID   206684216.
  4. 1 2 3 Collins, Rory (2012). "What makes UK Biobank special?". The Lancet. 379 (9822): 1173–1174. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60404-8. ISSN   0140-6736. PMID   22463865. S2CID   205965558.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Sir Rory Collins FMedSci FRS". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:
    "All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.” -- "Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies". Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. Rory Collins's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  7. Collaboration, A. T. (2002). "Collaborative meta-analysis of randomised trials of antiplatelet therapy for prevention of death, myocardial infarction, and stroke in high risk patients". BMJ. 324 (7329): 71–86. doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7329.71. ISSN   0959-8138. PMC   64503 . PMID   11786451.
  8. Heart Protection Study Collaborative Group (2002). "MRC/BHF Heart Protection Study of cholesterol lowering with simvastatin in 20 536 high-risk individuals: a randomised placebocontrolled trial". The Lancet. 360 (9326): 7–22. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(02)09327-3. ISSN   0140-6736. PMID   12114036. S2CID   35836642.
  9. Rory Collins' profile
  10. "UK government grants awarded to Rory Collins". Swindon: Research Councils UK. Archived from the original on 18 December 2015.
  11. "No. 59647". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2010. p. 1.